A/n: Uhm... enjoy :)

Chapter 42 – Dire, Dire, Falsifier (Danny Conrad POV)Pt.2

"I say we call the Elders, send them on her trail, and we get the hell out of Bend before they show up." My life was spiraling. "We need to you to come in, we have an incoming of causalities – all hands on deck – explosion at Hampton Inn-"

Explosion at the hotel Cynthia and I had just checked out of? Swallowing, in no place to do more than Cynthia had planned, in shock, I only gaze at Andy and Leslie.

"Look I need to go-" my brother Trevor says distracted, "It's fine Trevor," Cynthia eases his worry. I nod, though he's behind me.

"Leslie, go back to the house-" Leslie turns to Cynthia ready to protest, "Now!" she adds while I stand processing what's going on. Who the hell is this woman?

Could all these years be an act?

Was Faith doing this? Before coming here and see the girl Cynthia was my complete package. She's a wonderful mother, loving, nurturing and patient. She never rushed my daughters to fall for her, or tried to take Tina's place. All she did was show them that she could be there for them.

Had Faith cast a spell on the family? On my Cynthia? Replacing her with this woman that I hardly recognized?

Andy scoffs in front of me, standing tall, our eyes level, all I see is disappointment. I check the room and find that Cynthia is in my brothers' kitchen, while Andy and I stare off at one another. "How can you even forgive her for what she's done?" he asks me. For a moment, I feel like the little boy asking for his Fay, is gazing right back at me.

It's just us, and when my phone buzzes, I quickly pull it out sending one more text.

"If your mother left-"

Andy's green eyes, identical to Faiths, widen. "If?" he spits taking a step back shaking his head.

"Wake up Danny!"

"What does she have to do? Kill someone and ask you to help her hide the body?" Andy roars sarcastically. "She didn't just leave some random child, she left a child-"

"Leander Conrad!" my wife booms. "Watch yourself!" Cynthia warns.

"We're a family Andy... if your mother left Faith behind, I have to rationalize that it was for a reason. You were a child-"

He steps back and away form me. "So. Was. Faith."

The kettle behind me is almost near whistle, and I hear Cynthia opening the kitchen cabinets, closing one. Then another.

"Andy..." she says with a calmness that I know is her, "You were just a child when I left Faith," his eyes widen and he motions towards Cynthia. His gesture a definite meaning of 'See? What did I tell you? How can you be okay with this?'

"But if you think that you can be rational and listen to everything that happened, I will treat you like an adult and explain. Answer all your questions." Hell I wanted those same answers.

Breathing heavily, Andy shakes his head at me, side stepping me to go straight to Cynthia. "What excuse do you think you can possibly give me that I would ever be okay with what you've done mom?"

"Not only did you leave Faith behind, but I – you made me think that I had somehow made up this other child that held me when you were gone-"

Cynthia spins to face Andy, her eyes wild. "No," she shakes her head, blonde hair frizzing out around her face. "No, I wasn't gone. I was being beaten because those people thought I knew the answers to unlocking her potential. We were starved Andy, because of her, they thought I surely knew and somehow had trained myself to beat their ways of getting into my head," Cynthia jabs a finger at her skull.

Huffing, Cynthia places a cup of something, tea, in front of Andy, taking one herself. Did she have time put the drugs in it? "You want to know why I left that abomination in that room?"

Each word Cynthia utters looks like it is cutting Andy down physically, blow and after blow. His body still, but his eyes, are filled with hurt.

Where is my Cynthia?

"I left her because they would never stop looking for us if I had brought her with. I left her because I was kicked out of my home, ripped from family because I was tricked into carrying her in Zedwood. I left her because I knew that once they got what they needed from her, that they'd kill her like I was willing to do in Zedwood if that meant I could stay." Frozen I could hear every single appliance humming low in Trevor's home.

Even without enhanced senses, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop at Cynthia's explanation.

"I left her Andy, to save us. You and I. We would not die for her," Cynthia says tearing up, her voice even shaking. Is this real? Is this the real her? The woman I know that I admired because it looked like she was still inside.

I couldn't truly wrap my head around everything she was saying but in this minor instance. Just the last ten seconds, I'm reunited with the woman that would do anything to protect herself children. I had heard of Alpha Monet's pack. Women... and very few of them at that ever try to escape. I had been awed that starved and beaten, that Cynthia had found the strength to run away and not leave Andy behind.

Taking a few steps closer to mother and son, I reach for the cup that Cynthia pushes towards me. Inhaling deeply once I've brought it up to my face, the steam tickling my nostrils.

Jasmine and black tea, unsure of Cynthia, I had to check.

"Just go back to the hotel," Andy says shaking his head in pure disgust at Cynthia. His tears remaining unshed. "I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone here Andy," Cynthia says meekly.

"You can leave a little girl in a camp with abusers, easily. But you're uncomfortable leaving me in a luxurious house?" he snorts and I see the restraint that Cynthia exudes when she doesn't respond. Even looking away from Andy as though feeling shame. Was she?

When he picks up the black mug that Cynthia has made and pushed towards him, he turns away from us. Instantly, sighing when we hear a door close, Cynthia places her own cup on the granite counter-top.

"If he takes even just three or four sips, he'll be out and we can get out of here," Cynthia murmurs, nodding to herself, as her eyes never meet mine though I'm staring right at her – or whoever she was in this moment.

Needing to go outside, get away for the briefest second, I place my mug on the counter. Only creating the slightest click but it's enough to gather some of Cynthia's attention. "I'm going to grab our suitcase-"

"No – no. Don't bother... ten minutes and he'll be out cold," she tells me with wide eyes that certainly does not bring me comfort. Not when what I needed was in the car.

I nod woodenly, though I still feel as though something had to have flipped inside of Cynthia. If not Faith then... maybe it was her conscience she was battling with now? Sometimes, you avoid the painful parts of life. You bury yourself in work or use harmful methods to take the pain away.

Faith was a reminder of Cynthia's pain. Seeing her again-

She thought Faith would have been killed by now though.

In my head, I still stay alert keeping track of Cynthia as she reaches for my mug and hers, placing them in the sink before turning back to me. Or more so, the house, I observe her eyeing everything from the walls, to furniture and large dinning room table that seats twelve.

"We will have enough money to get some place like this. Lay low with the kids," she nods to herself. The large clock near the entrance of Trevor's house ticks loudly, to me. I begin counting each second. Soon though, that is not enough to distract me. I add how long it takes before his freezer kicks in, the hum then higher than normal. I push my hearing out further, but Trevor's in a quiet area there isn't much to be heard.

I knew that humans lived here, which is why I didn't want to make a scene. We wouldn't have to offer up any explanations.

"Okay – okay. I think – it should have kicked in by now..." Cynthia says walking towards the room we saw Andy turn into. Following behind her, she stops in place. Freezing with her hand hovering the knob of the door. "His heart beat? Is it slowed?" she whispers lowly. Without enhanced hearing all I would think is that her lips were moving but sound was not coming out.

Just like I've done a million times with my children, I listen for their easy and equal breathing patterns and heartbeats. I concentrate for less than twenty seconds before I nod and give Cynthia the okay to open the door.

Now or never.

It happens quickly next, we do not bother with turning off the lights in Trevor's house. With a knocked out Andy in my arms Cynthia closes the door behind us, running ahead and opening the backseat door. My heart racing, the cold nipping away at my face feels different, as the heat inside me grows hotter.

Now or never.

I've done it, I think when hurriedly, Cynthia and I maneuver Andy into the backseat. "Okay I'll send a text to Leslie let her know we're coming and to get everyone ready-"

Now or never, if I don't stop her, the family will... I chant.

"Yeah, yeah," I say as eagerly as Cynthia would expect. Jumping into the car, the darkness surrounding us, I reach down between the seat and console, on my right. Fast – do it fast!

I easily feel the metal coolness against my fingers, wrapping them around it, steeling my grip. Stiffly, I move swiftly. Lifting my hand up only enough to jam the metal tool right down into Cynthia's thighs. My thumb over the top pushes down hastily, injecting the same tranquilizers Ansel and my father used when they need to sedate an enemy. Cynthia releases a frightened yelp, partially calling out my name as I turn to face her.

"I could not let you harm my family," I whisper as I watch her eyes roll to the back of her head. Her body slumping in her seat.

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